


Kisses

by Telenovela



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kissing, Multi, Platonic Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:29:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2341748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Telenovela/pseuds/Telenovela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five different kisses experienced by Nanase Haruka.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kisses

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Emily (tumblr user captain--eo) because I feel mildly responsible for her less-than-gradual descent into Swimming Hell. Enjoy, you disgusting weeb. <3
> 
> This is set sometime during season two, probably from just before Prefecturals to just before Regionals, although I pretty much ignored canon events. Apologies for the terrible title; someday I'll learn how to do those well, but it hasn't happened yet.
> 
> Haru is mostly very passive in this, and I am deeply unsure about my ability to write him convincingly. He could also be interpreted as ace/aro, if that's how you want to read it.

They’re sitting by the pool, drying off in the late afternoon sunshine. Makoto and Rei have gone home already; Rei to study for a test tomorrow, and Makoto to look after his siblings until his parents get back from work. It’s Nagisa’s turn to clean the pool and pull the cover across, and Haru just wants to swim, to lose himself in the sensation of water flowing past him and around him until the last possible moment. And now they’re sitting together, on a bench by the covered pool, Nagisa chattering excitedly, while Haru watches the puddles around the pool’s edge slowly evaporate away.

“…And I don’t know why Rei-chan had to run home and study! We definitely could have practised our exchanges at least a few more times, and besides, he’s great at chemistry, it’s not like he needs the extra revision. And-“

Haru cuts him off, “Don’t you have that test as well, Nagisa?”

He flushes a little, and looks down at his hands, before smiling back up at Haru.

“I’ve been working really hard during lunch breaks and on other evenings, and I’ll go over my notes again before I go to sleep tonight,” his brow furrows slightly, uncharacteristically serious. “I’m not going to let myself get in trouble again, or put my position on the team at risk. It means too much to me for that to happen.”

Haru blinks, and Nagisa is smiling at him again.

“But there’s no point doing all that work to stay on the team if I’m not going to do well for you guys, right?”

The idea of doing well in class for its own benefit, or for the benefit of his future, doesn’t cross either of their minds. Haru nods, and Nagisa rests his forehead on Haru’s shoulder, giggling.

“Can we get ice cream on the way home? Please?”

Haru wants to sigh, but holds it in.

“Weren’t you just complaining about having spent all your money on donuts this lunchtime?”

Nagisa pouts.

“I could totally pay you back tomorrow! It’s such a nice day, perfect ice cream weather, and I’m hungry from swimming so much. Please, Haru-chan?”

He rubs his head back and forth against Haru’s shoulder, nuzzling into the crook of his neck like a cat. Haru thinks that he should probably get Makoto to speak to him about the concept of personal space at some point, but he’s put up with Nagisa for long enough now to know that trying to move away is a losing battle. He just has to wait for the storm to pass.

The begging and head-rubbing slows, and Haru expects him to give up. Instead, he feels a tiny kiss, gentle and momentary, pressed to the skin just above his collarbone. Nagisa looks up at him, eyes big and sad.

Haru stands, and together they walk, Nagisa still excited and talkative, to the corner shop and its freezer full of ice creams.

\- - -

For all his athletic grace, Ryuugazaki Rei can be awkward and ungainly when caught off-guard.

Haru learns this all over again one lunchtime, a few days after their prefectural races. The two of them are standing in the stairwell, on their way up to the roof to eat lunch with the others when Rei stopped him to ask about his performance, and what they as a team need to improve. Haru nods to show he has heard, then is silent for a moment, trying to put his thoughts together into the right words, to make sure he expresses exactly what he wants to say.

Just as he opens his mouth to speak, there’s a cry from the stairs behind them, and suddenly Rei is staggering forwards, stumbling into him, hands grabbing at his shoulders to stop him from falling completely or headbutting Haru. Nagisa, the culprit behind the pushing, shouts something about “Look out, Rei-chan!” barely audible as he runs down the next set of steps, manic laughter ringing out and echoing in his wake.

Rei is frozen in place, fingers curled tightly into Haru’s shirt, face as red as the frames of his glasses. He opens his mouth, as if he’s about to apologise, closes it again, and then, so quickly that he could have denied it ever happened, brushes his mouth against Haru’s temple. Or at least, he thinks he was aiming for his temple; the kiss actually falls mostly against his left eyebrow.

He’s already leaping back, shouting apologies and thanks for the feedback which Haru never got to give him, and chasing Nagisa’s fading laughter down the steps, stumbling and almost falling on the bottom two and slamming into the door before he gets it open and continues his pursuit.

Haru stands for a moment more, raising his eyebrows almost experimentally. Then he straightens his shirt, and continues up the stairs to where Makoto and Kou are waiting for him.

\- - -

It’s just a small local race, not one that really counts towards anything, but everyone takes it as seriously as if it were nationals. They’re here to win.

Kou finds him in the corridor outside the boys’ changing rooms, ten minutes before his heat. She blocks Haru’s path completely, despite being a good foot shorter than him.

She inclines her head to him in greeting, straightens again, and then, staring directly into his eyes, says, “Good luck, Haruka-senpai.”

The kiss which she presses against his cheek is firm and deliberate, graceful despite the fact that she has to stand on tiptoes to reach him at full height. When she steps back, her cheeks are faintly flushed, but she doesn’t break eye contact.

“Now, go out there and win for us!”

Haru gently touches his fingertips to his cheek, and thinks about all the things Kou has done for them since becoming their manager, and just how similar she can be to her brother, united in their fierce intensity.

“Thank you,” he mumbles, but she’s already gone back to rejoin the team.

He puts on his swimming cap, and walks out to the pool.

\- - -

There’s another joint practice between Iwatobi and Samezuka, this time hosted at the rebuilt Iwatobi Swimming Club, and the two teams compete and bond and swim better than ever, potential increased by the friendly rivalry between them. Haru wins six out of his and Rin’s freestyle races, which he supposes he should be pleased about.

As per usual, he’s one of the last ones to leave the pool, but today Rin is late too, deciding to swim a little more as a cool-down after rounding up his team. He suits being a captain, Haru thinks, no matter how much he pretends to resent the responsibility. Haru contemplates the snacks in a vending machine while Rin finishes changing, eventually coming to stand beside and slightly behind him.

“It still feels strange being back here, don’t you think?” Rin tilts his head slightly to the side. “Swimming together again in the pool where we first raced one another.”

Haru looks at their reflections in the glass; Rin’s damp hair hangs loosely around his face, falling into his eyes from where he’d run his hand through it, and he’s grinning his sharp smile at Haru.

“You swam well today,” he continues, and puts a hand on Haru’s shoulder. Haru turns back towards him. The moment hangs between them.

Rin’s eyes widen slightly, then narrow. A decision is made.

Before he really registers what’s happening, Haru is being pushed back against the cool glass of the vending machine, and there’s an anxious, sharp-toothed mouth crushed against his own. Rin’s face is so close it’s obscuring most of his field of vision; he glances sideways and sees a wall with a window, and sees one of Rin’s eyes, screwed tightly shut. There are hands gripping desperately at his jacket, and a tongue running across his lower lip, his mouth having opened slightly in surprise.

Haru feels simultaneously hyperaware, and completely numb.

Eventually, Rin slows the kiss, pressing another, chaste, at the corner of his mouth. He steps backwards, and rubs awkwardly at the back of his neck. Haru doesn’t move.

“I’m sorry. I just…” Rin breaks into a nervous laugh, but it’s more sad than joyful. “I had to, just once, y’know?”

Haru opens his mouth, but Rin reads his expression – and how is it that he’s always been able to do that, wonders Haru – and cuts him off before he can speak.

“Please don’t apologise to me. It’s not your fault, and at least now I _know_.”

His smile is sad at the edges, and Haru thinks about all the times he’s seen Rin cry since their childhood, bitter-crying and happy-crying and sad-crying. This is not one of those times - at least not yet.

Rin punches him gently in the shoulder.

“You’d better keep working your team as hard as today, alright? If anyone’s going to beat us to nationals, I want it to be you, and if that happens then you have to go on and win there, too!”

And with that, he’s gone, and Haru is left behind, still leaning against the vending machine. He realises that he hasn’t said a word.

Haru goes home, sits in the bath for two hours, dries himself off, and immediately goes to bed. He doesn’t sleep for a long time.

\- - -

The days are starting to get shorter again, and the sun is beginning to set as Haru and Makoto walk home from practice. Regionals are almost upon them, and Kou and Sasabe are working them harder than ever, knowing that this could be the club’s last chance to win. They walk in warm, friendly silence, neither of them needing to say a word.

The sky is cast in oranges and pinks as the reach the top of the steps which run down to their houses, and they both pause for a moment, taking in the colours, the falling light which sets the bottommost houses into deep shadow. Makoto looks across, and catches Haru’s eye, and smiles, and they continue walking.

Outside Haru’s house, Makoto reminds him to sleep early, and eat something which isn’t mackerel, and that he’d be there at the usual time the next morning. Then he takes a step towards Haru where he stands by his front door, and still smiling softly, brings up one hand to push Haru’s hair to the side, cups his face, and presses a warm, unhurried kiss against his forehead. He lingers there for a second, before resting his cheek atop Haru’s head, looping his arms around Haru’s shoulders in a lazy embrace. Haru breathes in the smell of Makoto’s shirt, familiar and unchanged despite the years they’ve known each other, and allows himself a small smile as well.

Makoto disentangles himself, and takes a step back.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Haru,” he says, and turns to continue down the steps.

A hand slips into his, holding loosely, and Haru is beside him again, serious-faced.

Makoto laughs gently, and together they walk down the stairs, heading home.

                                                                                                                                                                                        

**Author's Note:**

> Platonic kisses and romantic kisses are both wonderful, and you're lying to yourself if you don't think that everyone involved in this has at some point had a crush on Haru. Also, Nagisa nuzzling people when he wants something is actually canon, wowee.
> 
> Enormous apologies if you're reading this and wondering where the second part of my Yowapeda fic has got to. It's been a madly hectic few weeks, but I solemnly swear that I'm getting there with it. I'd rather take my time than rush it and let people down. But it's coming soon.
> 
> I can be contacted on tumblr at greasepaintandregret (my main blog) or midoususie (my gross sports anime blog), if anyone wants to be friends, or has requests, or anything else really.


End file.
